By Maya Palit
A new arts festival is coming to Bangalore’s Ranga Shankara theatre between 7th and 9th April. Curated by the renowned actor Arundhati Nag, EQUAL: Women’s Voices for a Common Humanity, is hosting a bunch of plays, poetry performances, photography exhibitions, literary talks, and films that contribute to a dialogue about gender inequality.
Three of the plays being performed sound particularly exciting. An all-women troupe will perform the Kannada play ‘Chitrapata Ramayana’ using the Yakshagana form on the first day of the festival. On the second day, theatre artist Neelam Mansingh’s play ‘The License’ will be performed, which tells the story of a woman who alters her identity in order to do a man’s job. And finally, the third day will see a performance of art director Veenapali Chawla’s ‘Brihannala’ by Adishakti theatre company, a play based on Arjuna’s transformation into a woman in the Mahabharata during a year spent in exile.
There are a range of events on each day, which address and participate in dialogues about the women’s movement and activism, sex work, women who have led movements in the garment work industry, women in literary spaces, and theatre activism. And if these don’t sound compelling enough, there’s a ‘Mehfil’ organised every evening, which will have performances by documentary film-maker and artist Shabnam Virmani, theatre songs by actor and singer B. Jayashree, and lively music from the funk band Mana and Co. So mark your calenders and hop down to Ranga Shankara for a long weekend of performances that reflect on gender, identity, and women’s roles in artistic spaces today.